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The family of a 69-year-old great-grandfather, who died in the 2022 mass shooting at the Highland Park Fourth of July parade, sued the manufacturer of the gun that killed him two years after the massacre.
Eduardo Uvaldo was one of seven people killed in the tragedy. Uvaldo was shot twice in the massacre — once in the arm and once in the head. After fighting for his life for two days, he died on July 6.
Now, his family is suing firearm manufacturer Smith & Wesson in an Illinois court, alleging wrongful death and deceptive marketing practices.
“The defendants made a few hundred dollars selling the Shooter his M&P 15. It cost the Uvaldo family everything,” the complaint says.
The suspected shooter, Robert Crimo III, his father, the gun shop where the gunman purchased the weapon and others were also named as defendants.
The family accused the gun manufacturer of violating an Illinois state consumer protection law. The filing claimed the manufacturer’s advertising of its AR-15-style weapon included “targeting young people” who “were obsessed with first-person-shooter-style violence,” “encouraging unlawful, assaultive uses”of the firearm, and giving the “false impression” that the gun was endorsed by the US military.
The lawsuit accuses Smith & Wesson of incorporating “mass shootings into its strategy for growing and dominating the market” for AR-15 guns, the complaint says. A chart by its marketing and sales team showed “high-profile shootings, such as the 1999 Columbine and 2007 Virginia Tech mass shootings, drove increases in firearms sales.”
The complaint arrives nearly two years to the day after the July 4 mass shooting.
Uvaldo was survived by his wife, four daughters, 13 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, according to the filing.
“Eduardo was a kind, loving, hardworking man who adored his family. He was taken too soon: because of the actions of both a disturbed young man and the greedy corporation that made and marketed his weapon,” the Uvaldo family said in a joint statement.
“As we work to honor his memory, part of that is fighting to keep other families from knowing this indescribable pain. The shooter may be facing justice, but he could not have acted with that weapon if not for the choices and actions of Smith & Wesson.”
The family is seeking an unspecified amount of money.
“For over 50 years, Eduardo Uvaldo lived the American Dream, and on Independence Day two years ago, he died in the American nightmare,” said Josh Koskoff, one of the lawyers representing the Uvaldo family in a statement.
Survivors and families of children who were shot in the massacre also joined as plaintiffs in the suit.
Robert Crimo III has pleaded not guilty to 117 counts — 21 counts of murder, 48 counts of attempted murder and 48 counts of aggravated battery — after he reportedly opened fire at the 2022 parade, leaving seven dead and injuring dozens of others.
The 23-year-old suspect was expected to accept a plea deal in Illinois court last week, but instead backed out of the agreement at the last minute.
“It’s hard, it’s hard, just to come in here and see the person that took my dad, it’s not something that you want to do,” Karina Mendez, whose father Eduardo Uvaldo was killed in the attack, told The Associated Press.
Holding gun manufacturers accountable for mass shootings has proven difficult — but highlighting their marketing practices has been a successful strategy.
The same law firm, Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder sued gunmaker Remington on behalf of the families of Sandy Hook mass shooting victims for violating consumer protection laws in Connecticut.
